Daily Bible Reading 6th August 2025 // Colossians 3:22-4:1
22 Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
4 Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
The apostle Paul's great concern then was for the spiritual reality of the Gospel. His paramount concern was that the power of God unto salvation be so effective, so radically effective in the life of the believer that it is worked out ethically and socially, having a positive but indirect influence on the powers that be, cleansing and transforming society from the inside, as the Gospel spreads and the wind of the Spirit fans the flames. The glory of the Gospel is that it transforms and liberates the believer in the midst of social structures which are oppressive and even degrading. Paul's conviction is that in the family, where things may not always be ideal, in the workplace, with its corruption and double-dealing, as a slave, whether or not our circumstances are propitious, whether or not they change for the better, it is gloriously possible and urgently needful for the believer to live victoriously unto the Lord Christ.